The field of the disclosure relates generally to centrifugal blower assemblies, and more specifically, to centrifugal blower assemblies that discharge air in a direction parallel to a motor rotational axis.
Blowers and impellers are commonly used for creating a flow of either a gas or a liquid. More specifically, blowers and impellers may be used in the automotive and air handling and ventilation industries for directing large volumes of forced air, over a wide range of pressures, through a variety of air conditioning components, such as furnaces. Furnaces utilize a blower to induce a draft through the furnace to draw combustion air into a combustion chamber of the furnace where the combustion air is mixed with fuel and ignited to produce heat for the furnace. The combustion products are drawn through a heat exchanger where the heat from the combustion products is transferred to temperature controlled circulating air which is directed through the house. The combustion products exit the heat exchanger and enter the furnace blower where they are propelled from the furnace blower through a discharge outlet into exhaust piping that leads to the outside atmosphere.
At least some known blower assemblies include an outlet that discharges air in a direction perpendicular to that of a rotational axis of the blower motor. However, at least some known furnaces require the use of existing exhaust piping to channel the discharge air out of vent openings in the furnace cabinet that are at permanent predetermined locations. Such hardware requires that the discharge air exits the blower outlet in a direction parallel to the motor rotational axis. Furthermore, the existing furnace exhaust piping has a generally circular cross-section, whereas at least some known blower assemblies include outlets having a generally rectangular cross-section. Thus, in order to couple the blower outlet to the exhaust piping, a structure is required that modifies the outlet airflow direction and that converts the rectangular blower outlet into a circular exhaust port that can be connected to the circular exhaust piping.